The committee is responsible for better coordinating chemical management in the state. It is also tasked with streamlining the electronic reporting system to facilitate businesses' compliance and improving state agency, business and public access to information about chemicals in Vermont.

The committee is chaired by the Secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources or her designee. The other agencies forming the Committee are the Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets; the Agency of Commerce and Community Development; the Department of Health; the Department of Labor; the Department of Public Safety; and the Agency of Digital Services.

The committee will consult with a citizen advisory panel composed of public health and chemical policy experts, industry representatives and other industry experts.

For more information, visit www.gov ernor.vermont.gov or call (802) 828-3333.

NIOSH launches mobile lifting calculator app

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has released a new, free mobile app to help workers stay safe when manually lifting objects. The app, NLE Calc, is based on the Revised NIOSH Lifting Equation, an internationally recognized standard for safe lifting.

It is designed to assist workers in industries where lifting is part of the job. NLE Calc determines a score based on the data entered about the lifting task and provides recommendations to help you optimize the task or perform it differently in order to prevent injury.

Based on the user's input, the app calculates the ratio of the load lifted to the recommended weight limit for the lifting task and displays the risk level as yellow (low), orange (medium) or red (high).

For more information, visit www.Cdc.gov/niosh or call (800) CDC-INFO [232-4636].

BCSP encourages youth to choose safety

The Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP) has initiated a "Choose Safety" campaign sharing information about the safety profession with youth, encouraging them to choose safety as an occupation.

Launched at the American School Counselor Association's 2017 national conference, the campaign addresses youth seeking information on education or career options.

In 2016, the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health established a working group to address a growing gap between the number of current safety professionals nearing retirement and new professionals entering the field.

"A career in safety combines great compensation with the personal satisfaction of protecting others' well-being," explained Erica Poff, BCSP government affairs and outreach manager. "It is not a profession many young people know about. Safety professionals know that if we want a safer future, we must build it."

For more information, visit www.bcsp. org or call (317) 593-4800.

EPA grants Louisiana $1.5M to help fight pollution

EPA recently awarded the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) a performance partnership grant of $1,592,713 for administering a variety of pollution-control programs.

"Environmental protection is a partnership between EPA and states," said Administrator Scott Pruitt.

The funds will go toward a variety of LDEQ environmental programs to monitor, reduce and control hazardous and solid waste, air pollution and water pollution. Because the grant can apply to different programs, LDEQ can use the funds to address cross-cutting issues.

For more information, visit www.epa. gov or call (800) 887-6063.

CSHS study supports standardization of sustainability reporting

The Center for Safety and Health Sustainability (CSHS) has released a report on its second analysis of how recognized companies report occupational injuries, illnesses and fatalities.

This study showed corporations made little improvement in complying with common safety and health performance indicators. The study found high variability on data collection methodology, reporting formats, and terms and definitions used in reporting.

"Understanding more fully these challenges brings us closer to CSHS's goals," said Kathy A. Seabrook, chair of the CSHS board of directors.

The report calls for the adoption of two key indicators on occupational safety and health management systems: tracking how many of a company's work locations implement such systems, and how many are audited by an independent third party.